short chapter today fellas! enjoy!

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word count: 981
warnings: swearing, (brief) mentions of animal neglect, mark being a dickhead lol
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Part Nine: Interlude

Dr. Mark Romero arrived back at his large apartment at precisely 10:45pm. an old friend of his from had decided to drop into town unannounced, so he had elected to go out and have a drink or two with him to catch up. Mark couldn't believe how boring his friend had gotten over the years.

he trudged further into his home, towards the kitchen, noticing someone had left him a voicemail. he didn't recognize the number. leaning forward against his counter, Mark pressed play on the phone, raising an eyebrow when Monika Vandertramp's voice crackled through the speaker.

"hey Mark! your stupid fucking friend couldn't even be bothered to show up to our date! yeah, he fucking stood me up! i waited at the restaurant for almost an hour! what happened to him being some 'super sweet guy' who 'would totally get along with me' and 'can't wait to meet you, Monika!' what the fuck happened to that, Mark? are you out of your goddamn mind? you're the one who set this whole thing up, you can't even be bothered to make sure your friend shows up to the date you set up for him? thanks for wasting my whole fucking evening, Mark! and, you'll be pleased to hear my whole weekend will probably be ruined because of you, too! hey, maybe if you're lucky, i'll-"

Mark stopped playing the message, deciding he had heard enough. Monika was so incredibly childish sometimes. sure, maybe setting her up on a date with a made up guy was a bit of a shitty thing to do, but she didn't know he didn't exist.

but now she was vulnerable, and all Mark needed to do was continue to break down the walls she put up until she fell into his arms. Evelyn told him what he was doing to Monika was wrong. she told him that you couldn't force love, that it wasn't okay to keep pursuing her if she wasn't interested. but Evelyn didn't have any business prying into his life, so he didn't listen to her.

realizing he was getting lost in his own thoughts, Mark turned on the television, which was situated next to his toaster, and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. his cat, Petunia, hopped up onto the counter beside him, letting out a grouchy meow. though Mark had never been fond of cats – or animals at all, for that matter – he had agreed to take care of Petunia after his mother grew too old to care for her, knowing it would have broken her heart to give te poor thing away to a shelter.

as he stared at the evening news playing on his tiny tv, not really processing anything the anchors were saying, Mark's mind wandered back to the intricate lie he had set up just to make Monika sad. he felt bad that he had made her mad at him, not the fake man he set her up with. that wasn't part of the plan at all.

it was supposed to be so easy! he knew everything Monika would have liked in a man, and Fabian was the perfect guy for her. the detail of him being french was really more of an afterthought, as she always talked about how much fun she had when she studied abroad in France when she was in college, but aside from that, everything about him was meticulously planned. Monika should have been devastated when he didn't show up to the restaurant.

and then there was the matter of Monika's little stalker. Mark didn't know his name, but he would have recognized the freak anywhere. in fact, while he was out with his old friend earlier that evening, he caught a glimpse of the wacko and his pathetic comedy routine on the Murray Franklin Show, and only became more appalled by the notion that Monika could even stand looking at that loser.

but even if he was a loser, he loved Monika. it was so painfully obvious, the way he looked at her with puppy-dog eyes and a big dopey grin across his face. he was absolutely, positively enamored with her, and Mark couldn't blame him. Monika had a nice body, even if she could stand to lose a bit of weight, and that made up for what she lacked in terms of an ideal personality.

so Mark had to make sure Monika couldn't trust him anymore. that wacko always took his sweet time leaving the office, so all he had to do was pretend to be on the phone with someone and loudly announce a very exaggerated and cruel version of his plans to make Monika fall for him so that he would just so happen to hear everything. and if he decided to say something to Monika, she would never believe him, because who would believe a story like that? even Mark would never show up to a girl's house just to take advantage of her while she's vulnerable, and Monika knew that.

thinking about all of that gave Mark a headache, though. he was almost starting to wonder if this had become to intricate of a scheme just to get one girl. almost, but not quite. he figured Monika would have a few choice words for him when she saw him at work on Monday, and frankly they were well deserved. he just hated that he would have to apologize to her in order to make her get over it.

the evening news ended, and cut to a rerun of some show he didn't know the name of. Mark took this as his cue to head to bed, and stalked out of the dimly life kitchen after taking one more sip of beer. Petunia remained seated atop the counter, wondering why Mark hadn't bothered to put food in her bowl for three days now.